Disgraceful performance

[scrum5]

the game was lost when Nagusa went off and Marshall came on, Marshalls passing and decision making were atrocious, he butchered a certain try in the corner by trying to run it in himself instead of passing out to the winger, with no winger on the bench due to the IRFU's policy of resting Ulster players who don't need rested ( Trimble played 10 minutes against Fiji and didn't even figure in the 22 for the Argentine game ). The lineout wasn't great but the weather can be partly responsible for that though I would prefer Ed to start rather than Caldwell or Tuohy, Ed operates the lineout better than the other 2, doesn't give away stupid penalties like the other 2 and adds a bit of grunt unlike the other 2, considering the lose of BJ the pack did reasonably well, ref was poor but he was poor for both sides, glasgow should have had a second player in the bin for infringements around the try line, but didn't. Glasgow deserved their victory helped by a massive penalty count within Dan Parks ( deserved MOTM ) kicking range, their tactics were correct and they played the conditions alot better than us,, Chris Henry and Issac Boss came out of the game with a lot of credit, with Ulster playing a lightweight pack why was Horua not playing( even if he is still not match fit he could have played for 60 minutes) and why do we continue with Marshall and not play Willis. Both Cave and Dizzy had quiet games but with the loss of Paddy and Andy T unable to play, we had no alternative or plan B, Shiels is still to young and lightweight.....To the doom and gloom merchants WISE UP Ulster are still a work in progress, we are missing all our Internationals, BJ, Ferris, Paddy and Rory along with Robbie Diack, Matt McCullough and Bryn any side would struggle. It was a bad day at the office nothing more I've seen enough this year from both players and coaches to know that we are better than that.....KEEP THE FAITH

[Ardglass2]

The attack on Humphries is a joke; he has been very good this year. Dan Carter would have struggled behind that pack, a backrow that didn't turn up and Marshall's passing which was truly comically bad.

There were at least 10 players inferior to him on that pitch

[Cracker]

Totally agree Ardglass2. Hump played fine by me. The passing of Marshall was abysmal. He seemed to lob the ball in the air rather than a strong direct pass the conditions required. Totally agree with others about Horua. What is the point of having him if we dont use him. And what about Diack. Is he injured?
What was very clear last night was that we simply do not have the strength in depth when our top players are not available.
But we gave them the game by conceding countless penalties. The team should be wise enough by now to judge what sort of a referee the game has and adjust their play accordingly.

[bogboy]

My take on it

I was apprehensive when I saw Ulster lineout with the drizzle behind them while the wind may have been absent playing into a fine spray is no fun.

There are some who consider the Ulster tactics of trying to run the ball in the second half were a mistake I disagree with that conclusion because if Ulster had tried to kick they would have lost out on the kicking game . Glasgow only survived the kicking game in the first half because IH was kicking long and Glasgow where lying deep and allowing the ball to bounce.

In the second half Parks was kicking short thus forcing Ulster to jump for a wet ball under pressure and or kicked long to Boss who lacks a long kick and therefore had to run it back.

The lineout was always going to be allottery firstly the wet ball makes a precision throw difficult thus the target area in the line out is predictable front /middle and thus catchers are under pressure tring to catch a wet ball which increases the use of a tap back. Secondly Caldwell is a moving jumper which means that he becomes difficut to lift in the wet -- wet hands on wet legs. Last night was a night when we missed the Matt option . Matt is a static jumper slightly lighter and easier to lift.

The failure of the lineout Was not the call or the throw it lies in the nature of the jumper.

Where Ulster lost the match was the two quick penalties in the openning five minutes of the second half the second after an IH kickoff straight into touch which given the night was a totally wrong option the kickoff should never have towards the touchline in the first place but high into their 22. The problem for IH was he knew it.

[Rooster]

Pretty well summed up boggy
On the lineout Glasgow looked to have a tactic of lining up not at 90 degrees to sideline, which left them with the back directly in front of the hooker and had effect of closing the gap although gap still appeared to be there, Jones only penalised them a couple of times for crooked throws though and the TJ seemed not to notice either what they were at, there were 3 lineouts directly in front of me and 2 on the opposite side of pitch so it was not the angle I was watching from and seemed a deliberate tactic as they always lined up first even on our throw.

[ArticDonkey]

I don't think that the overall performance was a disgrace, but rather some aspects of the performance were infact disgraceful, as moentioned by others like ineout, Marshall substitution etc. I didn't see the whole game but some of the bits I saw were quite good. The forwards keeping the phases goin in the tight exchanges and there was a fantastic piece of controlled mauling with a lighter pack. I thought Court was a powerhouse and Henry visibly looked for him when close to the line for his try, it was controlled and calculated. In the second half, in a similar position, the chance was blown by impetuousness. If we'd scored then, we probably wouldn't have been chasing the game so much and would maybe have held on. The fact is we didn't and lost but the scoreline flattered Glasgow. When we loose, we always viewback the entire game with a negative perspective, and it can all come out pretty gloomy. We dominated the game, from what I saw and lost, but had a fair amount of injuries, so I think the season can be salvaged to something, hopefully.

[The Boo Radleys]

Performance and the reaction after it reminds me a lot of the Dragons game - we haven't suddenly become a bad team, the team just collectively put in a bad shift. Pivotal things IMHO:

Loss of Nagusa.
No winger cover on the bench.
2 penalties at the start of the 2nd half.
Losing the toss and having to play with the wind and rain and not geting far enough ahead at half time to control the match (Parks penalty to get back to 13-6 just before half time rubbed our noses in it...).

Roll on Saturday, a balanced 22 and a bit of luck with the coin!

[Hot in the Tropics]

It has taken many a long time to realise Caldwell is more a liability than an asset to the team. Steve Williams pinned his faith in Caldy as the next coming force - the extent of Caldy's genius has been to call most of the lineouts to himself and to get binned for dumb ass indiscretions. He has been totally consistent in this. 2 things stike me about Caldy - first, he has done nothing of substance since he turned up at an Irish training session, sniggered at O'Connell who then smacked the sh1t out of him. 2nd, not a lot has happened for him on the rugby pitch since becoming a family man. Maybe the sleepless nights are getting to him.
Anyway - the trend is your friend - and Caldy has a lot of hard work to do to turn his trend around. Shame - seems UR can produce many many players with ability but an all too few of them kick on and fulfil.

[Snipe Watson]

Like all young players he needs guidance. The coaching team are also on a learning curve. He will be OK if he gets pointed in the right direction.

[ulsterrugby4life]

the game was lost when Nagusa went off and Marshall came on, Marshalls passing and decision making were atrocious, he butchered a certain try in the corner by trying to run it in himself instead of passing out to the winger, with no winger on the bench due to the IRFU's policy of resting Ulster players who don't need rested ( Trimble played 10 minutes against Fiji and didn't even figure in the 22 for the Argentine game ). The lineout wasn't great but the weather can be partly responsible for that though I would prefer Ed to start rather than Caldwell or Tuohy, Ed operates the lineout better than the other 2, doesn't give away stupid penalties like the other 2 and adds a bit of grunt unlike the other 2, considering the lose of BJ the pack did reasonably well, ref was poor but he was poor for both sides, glasgow should have had a second player in the bin for infringements around the try line, but didn't. Glasgow deserved their victory helped by a massive penalty count within Dan Parks ( deserved MOTM ) kicking range, their tactics were correct and they played the conditions alot better than us,, Chris Henry and Issac Boss came out of the game with a lot of credit, with Ulster playing a lightweight pack why was Horua not playing( even if he is still not match fit he could have played for 60 minutes) and why do we continue with Marshall and not play Willis. Both Cave and Dizzy had quiet games but with the loss of Paddy and Andy T unable to play, we had no alternative or plan B, Shiels is still to young and lightweight.....To the doom and gloom merchants WISE UP Ulster are still a work in progress, we are missing all our Internationals, BJ, Ferris, Paddy and Rory along with Robbie Diack, Matt McCullough and Bryn any side would struggle. It was a bad day at the office nothing more I've seen enough this year from both players and coaches to know that we are better than that.....KEEP THE FAITH

i really do have to agree with this i was so so dissapointed on friday night it was unreal it infact made me in such a foul form i had an argument with the gf on way home and made her storm out lol

anyway that aside i really dont know what happened at half time but 1st half with those conditions i was most def happy enough few handling errors (ok weather as an excuse sometimes but i think that there were a few times that it was more eye off ball!!!)

the penalty count we must have racked up i started losing count!!! what the hell was going on!

have to say shiels did ok when he came on , boss did ok moving to full back (even tho he really didnt seem to happy when the message came on that thats were he was going (lol think everyone saw that happening except for him)
ANY WORD ON JIMMY????

next thing what the neck was going on in the line outs!!! few bad throw ins from Andy(who i have been really really impressed with so far) ok can blame weather again however glasgow didnt have as many problems - and whats wrong with taking a short one more often if ur having problems

getting on to caldwell- - - - - i was really hoping that he was going to kick on this season and clean up his act however i think he has found reverse and is standing on the accelerator

ok so if we preform like this on saturday we are dead !!! and extra bad is that before friday night i wouldnt have minded if it chucked it down for stade match (we should have been able to handle it better) but no im not so sure!!!


and i dont think that ihump was that bad anyone would have struggled on what he had to work with!!!!!!